Fright Heights

Don't be fooled by the cute and colorful look of Fright Heights, Chillingo's new Halloween-themed puzzler that hit the App Store on Thursday. Beneath the bright and breezy surface lies a brutally tricky game, one that blends number manipulation, match-three, and block placement strategies to create something quite unusual. And yes, it really is as difficult as that makes it sound.

Your job is to scare away the residents of a haunted hotel, using a randomize, consecutive list of haunted blocks and resident blocks. The side of each haunted block has a power rating, and your job is to make sure the adjacent hotel blocks have a high enough rating to scare off the resident blocks nestled in the gaps. Confusing? You bet, but a glance at the trailer should make things a little clearer.

The Good

As well as offering up a seriously satisfying challenge, Fright Heights is free too, so there's no excuse for not giving it a go. Like the best puzzle games, the complexity only gets greater as you uncover different hotel layouts, and if you can scratch your way past the confusing surface, puzzle nuts are in for a serious treat. Some hotels will give you less space to work with, while a poor luck of the draw will make even the simplest hotels seem insanely hard.

The Bad

We love the complexity of Fright Heights, but that quality comes with a price. We're not exactly sure what the developers could have done to make things clearer for the newcomer, so be warned that you're going to have to offer up a little bit of frustration before everything clicks, and you discover the deeply satisfying puzzle mechanics of the game.

The Verdict

Initially impenetrable, Fright Heights rewards the persistent player with the kind of mental workout few other puzzle games can offer. It's original and tense stuff that's free to play as well. Highly recommended for your game time this weekend.